Early Warning: Terrorism
by April Rain
Summary: Gary gets the paper on the morning of one September 11th, 2001 and sees what will be in the paper on September 12th. R/R pls
1. the paper comes early

Disclaimer: I don't own any Early Edition characters, nor do I claim to. I don't own any newspaper articles that may appear. The one in chapter one is a CNN article which can be found on http://web.archive.org/web/20010911180604/www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/worldtra de.crash/story.html. Any coincidences with actual people associated with the September 11th tragedy are purely accidental.  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
Gary Hobson awoke to the sound of a cat meowing. He had never been much of a morning person, and it was only 3am. Swinging his feet onto the floor, he stretched and yawned. He could still hear the meowing coming from the direction of the apartment door, so he knew he hadn't been dreaming. He opened it and looked down. The cat was sauntering down the hallway, and a newspaper laid on the doormat. Gary was unsure of the connection between the cat and the paper. All he knew was that they both arrived every morning. The cat was an ordinary looking orange and yellow striped tabby. The paper, however, was anything but normal. Each paper that came always had the wrong date. It wasn't that the publishers had screwed up, It was that Gary got the next day's paper- before it was printed. All of tomorrow's headlines, sports scores, and even stocks were at Gary's fingertips. Most people would have used this paper as a get-rich-quick scheme, but not Gary. While he may have used the paper once or twice to help him out of a financial rut, he generally only used the headlines to help those in need and stop bad things from happening. When he did this, the headlines changed. Usually, the paper knew what Gary could help with that day. But usually, the paper didn't come at 3am. It was neatly rolled on the welcome mat, instead of usually being open to the page he could help with. Gary unrolled the paper. His eyes scanned the headlines and his hands began to shake. He ran over to the phone, suddenly awake. He scooped up the receiver and dialed his best friend, Chuck.  
  
"Hello?" a sleepy Chuck mumbled into the mouthpiece  
  
"Hi…" said Gary in a shaky voice  
  
"Gar? Is that you? Whaddya want?" Chuck replied.  
  
"Chuck… the paper just came"  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Three ten"  
  
"wake me up at six" chuck said, starting to put the phone down  
  
"NO WAIT! Chuck, this is important"  
  
"Are you ok Gar?"  
  
"I am, but the United States isn't"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Listen. I'll read you the article.  
  
"Terror attack hits U.S. Terrorists struck the United States Tuesday morning in harrowing, widespread attacks that included at least three commercial jet crashes into significant buildings. In the first attack, a plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan shortly before 9am, followed by another plane into the second tower about twenty minutes later. Both towers soon collapsed. About an hour later, a plane crashed into the Pentagon, part of which later collapses. American Airlines told CNN that it lost two planes, both en route to Los Angeles: American Flight 11 from Boston with 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard was lost. This is believed to have been one of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. American Flight 77, a Boweing 757 from Washington Dulles airport to Los Angeles with 58 passengers and six crew is unaccounted for. The jet that crashed into the pentagon may have been this one, but it is still unknown. United Airlines lost two planes, United Airlines Flight 93 airliner headed from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, crashed near Somerset, Pennsylvania. Initial reports indicated no survivors. United confirmed the crash of Flight 175 from Boston to Los Angeles with 56 passengers and seven crew aboard. It's possible for this to be the second plane that hit the World Trade Center. The pentagon, the White house, the state department, the justice department, the capitol, the CIA, and all other government buildings as well as tourist attractions such as Disney world and Disneyland were evacuated. President Bush called the crashes "a national tragedy" and later he issued a statement that said "make no mistake. The United States shall hunt down whoever did this"  
  
Gary swallowed. "Chuck? You there?"  
  
"Yeah…" Chuck said, sounding a lot more awake, "I'll be over in 5 minutes. We have to do something. We have to tell the authorities, before 9am," Chuck said, and then hung up.  
  
Gary got dressed and washed up, but he had one thing on his mind. How would he get the police to believe him? The only two people who knew about the paper were his best friends, Chuck and Marissa. 


	2. who will believe us?

Disclaimer: I don't own any Early Edition characters, nor do I claim to. I don't own any newspaper articles that may appear. The one in chapter one is a CNN article which can be found on http://web.archive.org/web/20010911180604/www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/worldtra de.crash/story.html. Any coincidences with actual people associated with the September 11th tragedy are purely accidental. Any characters you meet that are not Early Edition characters, I created, and would appreciate it if you did not try to copy them. (As if they are that good) thank you  
  
In the last chapter, Gary was awakened early by the Early Edition paper, which contained the awful news of the tragedy of September Eleventh, to happen later that day.  
  
"Gary got dressed and washed up, but he had one thing on his mind. How would he get the police to believe him? The only two people who knew about the paper were his best friends, Chuck and Marissa."  
  
  
  
Chuck arrived and knocked on Gary's apartment door. He greeted him with a solemn nod.  
  
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to make the doorman let you in at 3:00am? Even if he sees you a lot?" Chuck asked, trying to cut the tension of the moment. When Gary failed to laugh, Chuck sighed.  
  
"So what do we do now?" he asked  
  
"Well, I guess we have to go see the police. I don't know how we're going to get them to believe me though." Gary replied glumly, then wordlessly scooped up the paper and walked out the door, followed by Chuck. They locked the door behind them.  
  
"Did you call Marissa?" Chuck asked  
  
"Nah" Gary replied. "I really didn't see how much she could help. I might call her later if I need help convincing the police of my story." The two headed to the police station silently, each lost in their own thoughts. Neither could really believe what the paper said. And if THEY couldn't believe it, how could the police? At least Gary and Chuck had experienced the paper before. The two men approached the police station. A woman at the front desk jerked her head up as though she had been taking a quick nap. She was very pretty, long auburn hair curled gently down her back, emerald eyes intent through wire glasses. She was not too skinny and not too fat. She wore black pants and a light green blouse. She had rings under her eyes, but they only made her look more natural.  
  
"Can I help you?" She asked pleasantly, despite the fact that it was early in the morning.  
  
"Yes. We've got to tell you something that we aren't sure you'll believe" Chuck said. Gary elbowed him.  
  
"Don't get her mind narrowed before we tell her" He whispered. Then to the woman he said "I'm afraid it IS rather unbelievable, ma'am"  
  
"Please don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel old. My name is Charlie Blunkman. And you are?"  
  
"I'm Gary Hobson. This is my friend Chuck."  
  
"Pleased to meet you both. Now what is this unbelievable thing you have to tell me?"  
  
"Well, Um… I guess It would be easier to show you." Gary replied, pulling the newspaper out of his back pocket and placing it gently on her desk. Charlie studied it for a moment.  
  
"What is this?" She asked.  
  
"It's tomorrow's paper" said Chuck  
  
"How did you get tomorrows paper? It hasn't been printed yet. They don't print the paper until the night before. That would mean these things would have to happen. . ."  
  
". . . Today" Chuck and Charlie finished in unison.  
  
"The paper comes to my apartment every morning. I don't know how, and I don't know why. It just started showing up." Gary explained  
  
"What good does it do to know the day's news in advance? Besides placing bets on things" Charlie asked  
  
"You can always change the future before it happens. People control their own destiny, and they can also help out with the fates of others. If I know there is going to be a house fire somewhere and someone will die in it, I can get the family out of the fire. If I know there will be a robbery, I can try to stop it. Pretty simple in theory." Charlie nodded, then took a second look at the paper  
  
"Is this stuff always true?" she asked, eyes widening as she really read the paper's contents  
  
"Unless we change it," Gary replied.  
  
"I should show this to my. . ." Charlie started  
  
"CHARLIE!" a loud voice boomed from an office room  
  
". . . boss" Charlie finished, turning around. She started to get up, but there was no need, because Charlie's boss had already entered the room. He was a small, skinny man. His body did not match his voice at all. In fact, until the man spoke, Gary and Chuck were not entirely sure that he was the one who had yelled.  
  
"CHARLIE, I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU. . ." the boss began. Then he spotted Gary and Chuck. "OH, HELLO. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE AT THIS time of night?" the boss asked, apparently realizing he was still yelling.  
  
"These boys have something interesting to show us. Tomorrow's paper. They have the headlines before they happen. And these headlines aren't so good. Take a look." Charlie said, thrusting the paper into her boss' hands.  
  
"OF ALL THE TOMFOOLERY I'VE EVER SEEN. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A FAKE. A PLOY TO GET ATTENTION. NONE OF THIS STUFF WILL EVER HAPPEN" the boss yelled, making no attempt to lower his voice  
  
"Actually sir, Gary has saved numerous lives with that paper" Chuck interrupted  
  
"WHO WOULD BELIVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT? WHAT A BUNCH OF NONSENSE" the boss yelled, red-faced, throwing the paper back on Charlie's desk and stomping back into his office.  
  
"Sorry about him" Charlie apologized, looking embarrassed  
  
"No need to apologize. How do you work with him?" Gary replied kindly  
  
"Oh, he's not so bad once you get to know him. I'm off in about 15 minutes. If you want, I can try to help you get someone to listen to you." Charlie replied  
  
"That would be excellent" 


End file.
